Charlie Schouten

With £6m funding in place to start clearing parts of the 500-acre site, Belong is set to secure planning permission for a 72-bedroom care home and 34 apartments.

Designed by architect Pozzoni, Belong’s proposals are for a mix of housing options, including 34 one and two-bedroom apartments for independent living through to six households providing 24-hour support for up to 12 residents each.

The village will also support people in the wider community through its registered domiciliary care service, Belong at Home, and its specialist day care service, Experience Days. There will also be communal facilities including a lounge, gym, bistro, kitchen, laundry, and offices.

Wirral’s planning committee is set to sign off the proposals next week; ahead of the committee, the planners’ report said the scheme would be a “positive addition to the wider Wirral Waters masterplan”.

“The design has been carefully considered and developed in collaboration with the council, the client and master planner, to achieve a scheme which is both functional and attractive and will improved the architectural language of the area,” said planners.

“The development, together with additional submitted schemes will help establish a new city neighbourhood at East Float and around Birkenhead town centre to secure major economic growth, jobs and training alongside investment in high levels of housing and employment and the provision of supporting leisure, retail, community, health and education uses.”

Mosaic is acting as planner for the project, while Urban Green acted as ecologist.

Belong’s site is one of several sites across Wirral Waters to receive part of a £6m pot from the Housing Infrastructure Fund to help with enabling works, utilities, remediation, and installing public realm.

Urban Splash’s site, featuring 347 modular homes, was the biggest beneficiary from the fund, getting a £2.5m package for enabling works, with the other sites across the North Bank receiving funds ranging between £284,000 and £805,000.

The works will need planning consent before they can begin, and Peel as the landowner is required to provide a procurement strategy for the scheme. Under the terms of the funding, the work will need to be complete by March 2021.

Other schemes coming forward are Wirral Waters One, featuring 500 homes; the HIF money is expected to pave the way for construction to start either later this year or early next.